Almost Heroes

Plot

Leslie Edwards (Matthew Perry), a foppish, wealthy, high-society aristocrat, and the loud, low-brow Bartholomew Hunt (Chris Farley) are competing against the renowned Lewis & Clark to be the first to chart and make it across the United States to the Pacific Ocean. In the beginning of the film, Edwards has high hopes to head the first expedition to make it across the U.S., but while he has ambition and funding, he has grown up sheltered and knows little of the wilderness he seeks to cross. To aid in his journey, he hires the services of a supposedly knowledgeable wilderness-man and tracker, Hunt, who, once they get underway, turns out to be less than advertised.

Aided by a crew of varied, rugged and gristled frontiersmen, they are also joined by their groups version of Sacagawea, a young Indian woman by the name Shaquinna (Lisa Barbuscia), who is integral in helping them find their way across the dangerous and unknown terrain ahead, as well as, eventually becoming Edwards love interest. Along the way, the group goes through various mishaps and ordeals from having to deal with quirky, indigenous Indian tribes to vicious eagles, to running out of food and romantic snafus, as Hunts ineptness often causes more problems than it solves. Along the way, Edward and Hunts shared journey helps Edwards shed his aristocratic, snooty ways and learns camaraderie and honor, as well as a more humble view of a world he thought he understood. Hunt finds true friendship in Edwards and a sense of self-confidence he had not known before.

After many hardships and setbacks, they eventually make it to the Pacific coast just minutes before Lewis and Clarks expedition. Once the celebration is over, however, they find that they dont necessarily want to go back to their old lives and collectively decide to continue their adventure, leading Edwards and Hunts expedition to further explore the great uncharted world.

Cast

Similar Movies

Matthew Perry appears in Almost Heroes and The Whole Nine Yards. Chris Farley and John P Farley appear in Almost Heroes and Black Sheep. Chris Farley and John P Farley appear in Almost Heroes and Beverly Hills Ninja. Harry Shearer appears in Almost Heroes and composed the music for Waiting for Guffman. Harry Shearer and Eugene Levy appear in Almost Heroes and For Your Consideration.

Reception

Critical reception of Almost Heroes has been generally negative. The film currently has an 8% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews. However, it was rather well regarded by the audience, receiving a "fresh" score of 65%.

James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film one out of four stars and wrote: "This is a dreadful motion picture - a lowbrow example of period piece comedy with terrible production values and an exceptionally poor laughs-to-jokes ratio. Theres a kind of desperation in the movies approach to humor that reveals the film makers uncertainty about how entertaining the material is; the manic style betrays itself as a last-ditch attempt to hide the flaws of a failed script." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Almost Heroes [...] gives off the discomfiting reek of desperation. ... How could director Christopher Guest [...] have reduced himself to staging gags such as Farleys slap-fest with hostile Injuns, Eugene Levy (as a nasty pirate) speaking in a zany French accent, or Farley stealing an egg from an eagles nest, punching out the bird, and then falling to the ground with an epic thud? Almost Heroes goes thud too. Despite his compulsion to trash everything in his midst, including himself, Chris Farley deserved better." John R. McEwen of Film Quips Online wrote: "Its clear, his death notwithstanding, that Farley is the funniest thing about this... As expected, there is little here but sight gags and low humor, but if youre in the mood (and I must have been), it has its laugh-out-loud moments. ... Perry also has a few good bits, but he is obviously a distant second banana. Additional appearances by people like Eugene Levy and Kevin Dunn, and others, add to the hilarity, although many of the jokes fall flat...I doubt if anyone ever expected Chris Farley to win an Academy Award. But it is a fitting tribute to him that his last outing, while not a great work of American cinema, can provide a good dose of chuckles, and more than a few belly laughs."